Review: Swift has nothing new to offer on ‘1989’

‘New’ sound isn’t so new

Taylor Swift has released her fifth album, 1989, and it comes with the same nostalgia of the year of the album’s title – just over and over again.

Swift’s new album is not country, and thankfully so. She is sticking to a mainstream pop genre, and it is generally working well for her. With singles “Shake It Off” and “Blank Space,” she is definitely sweeping the nation with her so called ‘new’ sound.

However, the sound is not all new. The songs sound frighteningly similar to her last three albums, with only a few exceptions such as “I Know Places” and “Wildest Dreams.” Although this repetitive and monotonous sound works for her, after a while it gets tedious. While Swift sounds melodious and engaging in the ballads on the album, her voice sounds very strained and loud in the more upbeat tunes. The beat of each upbeat song sounds mostly the same, causing the listeners to feel as if they are listening to one continuous song.

Many of her past and present songs sound the same, including “Out of the Woods” which sounds a bit like “Long Live” on her past album, Speak Now. “This Love” sounds a lot like “Enchanted” on Speak Now. On the contrary, her song “Wildest Dreams” sounds slightly like singer Lana Del Rey, deep and resonant. She pushes her range deeper, but in the song “This Love,” she tries to push her range a little too low, and it’s not as appealing as the higher part of her range.

Even the themes in Swift’s songs have scantily changed over the years. Every song, with the exceptions of “Welcome to New York” and “Shake It Off,” is undoubtedly about Swift’s love life. Swift, earlier on in her career, stated that her lyrics were like a diary. Apparently her diary entries have been quite repetitive; her songs following suit. The song “Wildest Dreams” was one of the best songs on the album, mainly because it fluctuates more than the others.

Fortunately for Swift, the repetitive nature of the songs cannot dull her beautiful voice and meaningful lyrics. Her music is her diary, and she seems to share her innermost thoughts, good or bad. One line in the song “Blank Space” states “Oh my God, look at that face. You look like my next mistake.” While this comes off a tad bit arrogant and prude, it seems to have a deeper meaning, containing hints toward her insecurity and fear in relationships.

Not all of her lyrics are vague and beautiful, though. Many people believe that she makes references to one of her past lovers, Harry Styles. In “Out of the Woods” she says “Your necklace hanging from my neck.” This is after referencing that this event happened in December – the same month that Swift and Styles dated. She goes on to reference paper airplanes. Styles’ necklace that he is known to wear is a paper airplane. While some people think Swift is only continuing the tradition of putting her romantic relationships in songs, others believe that this is rude and exploitative towards Styles and his career. She is rarely ever this blunt about boys in her songs.

Regardless of the repetitive and exploitative lyrics, Swift’s album has great potential. It shows off her high range and brilliant songwriting. The album is very well produced and plays to her strengths. It wasn’t terrible; it just wasn’t her best. The album deserves 3 stars out of 5, but Swift is still most certainly gaining popularity by the minute with more than two million 1989 albums sold.